Fire shield damper device



J1me 1969 c. A. MALISSA 3,451,153

FIRE SHIELD DAMPER DEVICE Filed Jan. .50. 1967 Sheet of 2 INVENTOR. /35CARL A. MAL/SSA ATTORNEY June 24, 1969 c. A. MALISSA FIRE SHIELD DAMPERDEVICE Sheet of 2 Filed Jan. 30. 1967 INVENTOR. CARL A. MAL/SSA A rTOR/v5 v United States Patent FIRE SHIELD DAMPER DEVICE Carl A. Malissa,Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Airstream Products, Inc., Philadelphia,Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Jan. 30, 1967, Ser. No. 612,585

Int. Cl. E05f 15/20 US. Cl. 497 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fireshield damper device has a plurality of blades slidable in tracks alongthe sides of a passageway or opening and normally retained at the upperend of the passageway in aligned relation behind each other to bereleased in response to melting of a fuse for sliding down along theirrespective tracks into successive, interlocked relation across theentire passageway to thereby close off the passageway.

This invention relates to a fire shield damper device for use at apassageway in a wall or a duct to prevent passage of flame, smoke and/orhot air through the passageway, and particularly to a multi-blade damperstructure having a plurality of blades normally supported in collapsed,adjacent relation at the upper end of the passageway to be released intocontinuous, interlocked relation across the entire passageway inresponse to melting of a fuse in the blade supporting mechanism whichnormally retains the blades in their collapsed stacked relation.

Various devices of this type have been proposed heretofore for use asfire seals or the like. In general, these devices suifer from one ormore defects. For example, in some structures, the blades, whenreleased, do not provide adequate interlocking action to afford a properseal. In other cases, the blades, where heated, expand and tend to bindin their guideways, or to buckle more or less, so that they cannotassume a proper, closed relationship across the passageway upon beingreleased. Other prior art dampers in which the foregoing defects may notbe present are usually complicated and expensive to construct.

The damper device of the invention comprises a framework adapted to befitted against or in a passageway and having a housing at one end of theframework. A plurality of track members of unitary U-channelconfiguration are positioned along the sides of the framework, disposedin pairs and in transversely aligned, opposed relation. A plurality ofblade members are provided, each having opposite sides respectivelyslidably mounted and received in respective aligned pairs of said trackmembers and normally disposed in the housing behind each other, inaligned, stacked relation, adjacent ones of the blade members havingmeans thereon for interlocking engagement with each other when the blademembers are displaced from their stacked relationship in the housing bysliding along the respective track members through an opening providedin the housing. The damper device provides means for normally retainingthe blades in their stacked ice relation within the housing which mayinclude a swingable gate over the opening of the housing and a chainhaving as at least one of its links a heat fusible element. When thetemperature at the fusible link reaches a predetermined degree, thechain is broken upon melting of the fusible element thereby releasingthe gate which swings away from the opening and releases the blademembers for sliding along the respective track members through theopening of the housing. The blade members are provided with a first endhaving a reversely bent lip and a second end having a rear-wardlydirected reversely bent lip whereby the forwardly directed lips at thefirst ends of adjacent ones of said blade members engage the rearwardlydirected lips at the second ends of the blade members immediately infront of them to interlock said blade members into a continuous curtainover the passageway when the blades reach the ends of their respectivetrack members. The foremost one of the blade members has a forwardlyextending flange at the first end thereof for engaging said housing whenthe foremost blade member has slid to its end position along its trackmember to provide a seal against the housing, while the rearmost one ofthe blades members has a rearwardly extending flange at the second endthereof extending at such an angle as to first clear an angle bar whenthe rearmost blade has slid to its end position along the track membersand then firmly engage the angle bar to provide a seal thereagainst atthe end opposite the end of the framework with said housing.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved shield ordamper structure which is free from the foregoing and otherdisadvantages of known structures.

More particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide animproved fire shield damper device of the type set forth the blades ofwhich, when released, will assume a positive, firm interengagingrelation with each other to insure full and adequate closure across theentire opening or passageway at which the damper is installed.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved fire shielddamper device wherein the blades are so constructed and mounted thatthey will not buckle or bend in their guideways when they become hot, sothat they can slide down freely and quickly into interlocked relationacross the opening.

Still another object is to provide an improved fire shield damper deviceas aforesaid which can be installed easily at the doorways or windows offire walls, in air ducts, and the like, and which will provide acrosssuch doorways, windows, ducts, etc. a firm, continuous fire seal curtainto effectively close the same when the ambient has reached substantiallya predetermined temperature as evidenced by the melting of a fuseincorporated in the device, and in response to such melting.

A further object is to provide, in a fire shield damper device as aboveset forth, an improved track structure of channel form and soconstructed that the channel tracks will not only guide the descent ofthe several blade members of the device into closed relation across theopening or passageway, but which will not become objectionally distortedwhen heated, if at all.

A still further object of this invention is to provide improved trackstructure as aforesaid which is so constructed as to allow expansion ofthe blades thereinto so as to avoid distortion of the damper devicestructure.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved fireshield damper device which is simple in construction, easy tomanufacture and install, relatively inexpensive in cost, and highlyefiicient in use.

In accordance with this invention, there is provided a framework forinstallation at openings or passageways such as doorways, windows,ducts, and the like. At the upper end of the framework is a housing orenclosure for a plurality of blades of fire-proof material, such asmetal. The framework is also provided along its vertical sides with aplurality of transversely aligned channel tracks which form guidewaysalong which the blades can slide vertically, these being a separate pairof opposed, aligned tracks for each blade.

The blade housing has a floor provided with an opening therein throughwhich the respective blades can be slid up along their respective tracksor guideways into the housing for normal storage therein behind eachother in aligned, stacked relation. A hinged gate just under the housingfloor can be swung up against that floor after the blades have beenmoved up into the housing to normally hold the blades in the housing. Alink chain having a heat meltable fuse as one or more of its links issecured to the front and rear walls of the housing in such position asto bear against the gate and thus prevent it from normally swinging downaway from the housing floor. In this way, the stacked blades arenormally retained within the housing.

The foremost blade of the stack has a slight, forward bend thereacrossnear its upper end to provide a forwardly extending flange at the upperend thereof, and a rearwardly directed reverse bend thereacross at itslower end to provide a flange or lip at the latter end. The rearmostblade of the stack has a forwardly directed reverse bend thereacross atits upper end to also provide a flange or lip at that end, and a slightrearward bend thereacross at its lower end which provides a rearwardlyextending flange at the latter end. Each of the intermediate blades ofthe stack has, at its upper end, a forwardly directed reverse bend toprovide a lip similar to that at the upper end of the rearmost blade,and also a rearwardly directed reverse bend at the lower end to providea lip similar to that at the lower end of the foremost blade.

When the ambient temperature reaches that at which the fuse melts, thegate-retaining chain breaks to free the gate to swing down. The bladesthus become free to drop down out of their housing along theirrespective guideways. Each pair of guideways or tracks has stops forlimiting the distance their respective blades slide down therealong, theforemost pair of tracks permitting dropping of the foremost blade theleast distance, the rearmost pair of tracks permitting the rearmostblade to drop all the way to the bottom of the framework, and theintermediate pairs of tracks permitting their respective blades to dropsuccessively greater distances. As the blades drop down, the forwardlyextending flange at the upper end of the foremost blade tightly engagesthe floor of the housing to provide a seal, and the forwardly extendinglips at the upper end of successive blades behind the foremost one inturn tightly engage the rearwardly extending lips of the bladesimmediately in front of them to interlock and provide sealstherebetween. Extending transversely across the entire width of theframework at the bottom thereof is an upwardly directed angle bar. Theangle at which the flange at the lower end of the rearmost blade isinclined is such that it will at first freely slide past the upstandingangle bar but will then engage it firmly when the rearmost blade hasreached its lowermost position to also provide a seal. Thus, the firmlyinterengaged blades, housing and angle bar provide a continuous wall orcurtain across the entire opening to act as a shield against passagetherethrough of flame, smoke, hot air, etc, the blades then being disposd in .4 slightly stepped relation in a direction rearwardly through theopening as seen from the front thereof.

At their interengaging lips, 'the blades have four thicknesses of metal.This provides a rigid structural arrangement which avoids danger ofbuckling of the blades. Each blade is formed with a web along each ofits sides, the webs being received snugly in their respective tracks orguideways to insure a good seal. However, each track is of such depththat, if the blades should expand laterally from the heat, there will besufficient room therein to readily accommodate the webs. Thus, bucklingand binding of the blades is avoided.

The novel features of the invention, both as to construction and methodof operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe understood more fully from the following description when read inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation showing one form of fire shield damperdevice according to this invention installed in the opening in a firewall,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the device of FIG. 1 with afragment of the outer frame used in installing the device shown insection and with the blades of the firewall shield in their lowered,interlocked, stepped positions,

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section through the device taken along the line3-3 of FIG. 2 and viewed in the direction shown by the appended arrows,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, sectional detail of fragments of the two hindmostor lowermost blades encompassed within the circle 4 of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the blades when stacked within thehousing and held therein by the swingable gate and the chainthereacross.

FIG. 6 is a sectional detail taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2 andviewed in the direction of the appended arrows and FIG. 7 is afragmentary exploded view showing the details of, and the relationbetween, one of the blades and its associated tracks.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, in which the same referencecharacters designate the same parts throughout, there is shown, in FIG.1, a wall 1, such as a fire wall, for example, which has a passagewaytherethrough comprising a doorway, a window frame, or the like. Tight-1yfitted around the passageway is a frame 3 which embraces the wall 1completely around the passageway. The frame 3 may be of channel formhaving flanges 5 which bear against the opposite surfaces of the walland may be secured thereto by bolts, cement, or in any other suitablemanner.

Within the frame 3 is a framework 7 which is secured tightly to theframe 3. The framework 7 may also be of channel form, and its verticalsides are formed with a plurality of vertical spaced slots 9 alignedtransversely across the framework at each level. At the upper end of theframework 7 is an enclosure 11 for housing a plurality of blades13a-13g. The housing 11 has an opening 15 in its floor 17 through whichthe blades 13a-13g can be inserted to normally occupy positions thereinbehind each other in aligned, stacked relation, as seen in FIG. 5. Agate 19 which is hingedly mounted just under the floor 17, when swung upagainst the housing floor 17, retains the plates 13a-13g in the housing11. The gate 19 is held against the housing floor by a link chain 21which is anchored to the framework 7 by rivets 23 or the like and whichhas, as one or more of its links (only one being shown in FIG. 5 by wayof illustration), a meltable fuse 25.

The blades 13a-13g are mounted for vertical sliding movement along theframework 7 in guideways or tracks 27. These tracks are preferably alsoof channel form and are puddle welded to the sides of the framework 7through the slots 9 by weld 29, as best shown in FIG. 6. This preventsdistortion of the channel tracks 27. Each of the 5 blades 13a-13g hasalong its opposite sides a pair of laterally extending webs 31 (see FIG.7) which ride in a separate pair of transversely aligned, opposed tracks27. The tracks of each pair are so spaced that ample room is providedfor the blades to expand laterally therein when heated so as to avoidbinding and buckling of the blades. At various lengths corresponding tothe positions that the blades will occupy in their lowered positionswhen they are released from the housing 11, the respective channeltracks are pinched and joined together, as by rivets 33, to providestops 35 for the respective blades.

The foremost blade 13a, which drops the least distance when releasedfrom the housing 11, has a slight, forward bend across the top end toprovide a flange 37 which can engage the housing floor 17 when thatblade has dropped down to provide a seal therebetween. At its lower end,the blade 13a has a rearwardly directed reverse bend of about 35 toprovide a lip 39a. The rearmost blade 13g has, at its upper end, aforwardly directed reverse bend of about 35 to provide a similar lip39b; and at its lower end, the blade- 13g has a slight rearward bendthereacross to provide a rearwardly extending flange 41. Each of theintermediate blades 1312-13 has a similar 35 forwardly directed lip 3%at the upper end and a 35 rearwardly directed lip 39a at its lower end.Disposed on the bottom of the framework 7 and extending transverselyalong the entire width of the framework is an angle bar 43 which isadapted to be engaged firmly by the flange 41 to provide a seal thereat.

With the blades 13a-13g stacked in their normal, rest position behindeach other within the housing 11, if the link 25 should be heated to atemperature at which it will melt or fuse, the chain 21 will becomebroken and the gate 19 will swing down. The blades then become free toslide down along their respective tracks 27. The stops 35 of the tracksfor the blade 13a are so located as to permit the flange 37 to firmlyengage the housing floor 17. As the successive blades 13b13g slide downalong their respective tracks, the upper lips 3% thereof firmly engageand become interlocked with the adjacent lips 39a of the blades in frontof them. Each successive engagement of a cooperative pair of lips 39band 39a causes the preceding pair of blades to be moved tightlyinterlocked with each other. Finally, when the rearmost blade hasreached its lowest position, its flange 41 passes by the upstanding partof the angle bar 43 due to the inclination of the flange 41 until aflange 41 seats firmly against the angle bar 43 to provide a tight sealthereagainst. Thus, there is formed a continuous curtain or shieldacross the entire passageway from the housing 11 on down to the bottomof the framework 7, the curtain being provided by the interengaged,rearwardly stepped blades as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. As will benoted in FIGS. 2 and 4, the interengaged lips 39a and 39b result in fourthicknesses of metal transversely of the curtain at each interengagementof the lips. This aflords strong bracing of the curtain transverselythereof at spaced points vertically therealong, to provide a strong,rigid shield which will be substantially buckle proof.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the presentinvention provides a firm, highly effective fire shield damper devicewhich can be used at any desired passageway for preventing the passagetherethrough of flame, smoke, hot air, obnoxious vapors, and the like.Although only a single embodiment has been described herein, it willundoubtedly be apparent to those skilled in the art that variations inthe form described, as well as other embodiments, all coming within thespirit of this invention, are possible. It is desired, therefore, thatthe foregoing shall be taken merely as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A damper device for use at a passageway, said device comprising (a) aframework adapted to be fitted snugly against said passageway havingfirst and second ends and first and second parallel sides and providinga passageway opening therethrough,

(b) a housing at the first end of said framework, said housing beingprovided with an opening,

(c) a plurality of track members along the sides of said frameworkbetween its first and second ends disposed in pairs in transverselyaligned, opposed relation, said members being of unitary U-channelconfiguration,

(d) a plurality of blade members each having opposite sides respectivelyslidably mounted and received in respective aligned pairs of said trackmembers and normally disposed in said housing behind each other inaligned, stacked relation, adjacent ones of said blade members havingmeans thereon for interlocking engagement with each other when saidblade members are displaced from said stacked relation by sliding alongtheir respective track members through said housing opening, and

(e) means for normally retaining said blade members in said stackedrelation within said housing and conditionally releasing said blademembers at the same time, whereby said plurality of blade members whenreleased move under their own Weight to their respective displacedpositions for interlocking engagement with each other closing saidpassageway opening of said framework.

2. A damper device according to claim 1 wherein said means for normallyretaining said blade members within said housing comprises a swingablegate over the opening in said housing and a chain having as at least oneof its links a heat fusible element, said chain becoming broken uponmelting of said fusible element to thereby release said gate to swingaway from said opening and thus release said blade members to slidealong their respective said track members through said opening towardthe second end of said framework.

3. A damper according to claim 1 wherein said track members comprisingsaid channel members guide sliding movement of said blade members fromsaid housing toward the second end of said framework to successivepositions from front to rear.

4. A damper according to claim 1 wherein said channel members arepinched together at predetermined points to provide stops for limitingsliding movement of the respective said blade members in theirrespective track members toward the second end of said framework.

5. A damper according to claim 1 wherein said blade members each havefirst and second ends transverse said track member and the foremost oneof said blade members has a forwardly extending flange at the first endthereof for engaging said housing when said foremost blade member hasslid to its end position along its said track members toward the secondend of said framework to provide a seal against said housing, whereinsaid framework at its second end has an angle bar extending transverselytherealong, and wherein the rearmost one of the said blade members has arearwardly extending flange at the second end thereof, said last namedflange extending at such an angle as to first clear said angle bar whensaid rearmost blade has slid to its end position along its said trackmembers proximate the second end of said framework and then to firmlyengage said angle bar to provide a seal thereagainst.

6. A damper according to claim 5 wherein each of said blade membersexcept said foremost one has at its first end a forwardly directedreversely bent lip, and wherein each of said blade members except saidrearmost one has at its second end a rearwardly directed reversely bentlip, said track members having stop means for limiting sliding movementof said blade members at successively greater distances from saidhousing beginning with said foremost blade member and going rearwardlyto said rearmost blade member, said forwardly directed lips at the firstends of adjacent ones of said blade members engaging said rearwardlydirected lips at the second ends of the blade members immediately infront of them to interlock said blade members into a continuous curtainover said passageway when said blades reach said stop means at theirrespective track members.

7. A damper according to claim 6 characterized in that said interlockedlips provide stiffening braces as spaced points along said curtainbetween the ends of said framework to restrain said blades againstbuckling thereof.

8. A damper according to claim 6 wherein the sides of each of said blademembers comprise oppositely directed webs extending between said firstand second ends for sliding in their respective said track members andsealing said passageway.

9. A damper according to claim 6 wherein said lips are angularly relatedto their respective blades at an angle of about 35 10. A damperaccording to claim 8 wherein said track members of each said blademembers are spaced from each other transversely of said framework adistance such as to permit lateral expansion of said webs thereinto inresponse to heat whereby to avoid buckling of said blade members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 916,288 3/1909 Fish 160202 X1,096,446 5/1914 Mesker et a1. 160-202 X 1,234,873 7/1917 Clampitt 160-11,462,645 7/1923 Lancaster 160-490 1,489,737 4/1924 Burkart 160202 X3,341,971 9/1967 Hartman 497 DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 160202

